


The First Day of My Life

by castielsdancer



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 22:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4281117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielsdancer/pseuds/castielsdancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm just gonna keep adding to it on one entry! It'll just take time.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The First Day of My Life

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just gonna keep adding to it on one entry! It'll just take time.

"Okay, we'll pay you $50 an hour and you got 2 hours of play time," Gabriel said.

"Alright, sounds good. Thanks again, man." 'It's better than nothing,' he thought to himself. He was low on cash and the shop wasn't handing out too many shifts since business had been slow. They spent about half the week closed to save on money. It had been a really rough few months and he was hoping the dry spell would end soon- any longer of this and they'd have to close it altogether.

Dean went to set up the last of his equipment, making sure the two mics were positioned right where he wanted them, not too far from him or the guitar. He adjusted the tip jar on his guitar case which was right next to the mic stand, moved his stool a little bit closer to the mic and sat down. "Hi, I'm Dean and I'll be your music for the night." He took a shaky breath and started to play. He opened with 'Hey Jude' and went between playing covers of The Beatles, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Kansas, and a few other rock bands mixed in with a couple of originals he had been working on. Dean had garnered some applause and shouts of approval in between every few songs so he was feeling pretty good about himself. At the end of his set he thanked the audience and started to tear down his mini set up. After putting his guitar in its case and packing up the mics and cords, he counted up the tips he made, '$54, not bad,' he thought and packed it in the pocket of his case. Once he finished packing he went over to the bar where Gabe was helping Jo with customers to collect his pay. Gabe broke away from the bar as he saw Dean approach and pulled out five twenties, "Hey not bad, man. The people really liked you, so I may just have to call you back for another night. Not a lot of the solo artists we bring in get as much applause you did. So congrats on a successful night!" Gabe patted him on the back and gave him his money. Dean smiled at him, took the money and thanked him for giving him this chance. He hadn't played live in front of an audience in a few years so this had been a bit nerve racking for him, and the nerves drained him from any energy he could have had to stay for a drink. But not staying to drink left his fresh earned cash in his pocket, which was always a good thing the way things had been lately.

'$154 bucks! Awesome! That's more than enough for groceries to get food and maybe a new toy for Lia,' he thought as he packed away his equipment in the trunk of his car. He took off to his apartment happily humming 'Hey Jude' all the way home.

 

\-------------------------

 

He was ten minutes early, but it was a Friday night so he just wanted to make sure he'd get a table secure for the both of them. Jo saw him come in, so by the time he took his phone just to have it ready in case he called, Jo was already more than halfway to where he was with a beer in hand. Midas, his favorite beer. Black Wings was the only bar that sold it, which was a God send- he was best friends with the bartender and they had his favorite beer. "Here ya go, honey. I'll bring ya some pretzels in a bit so you can munch while you wait for him." She gave him a reassuring smile and he gave her a nervous smile. She knew how big this would be for him if the date pulled through, but her personally, didn't think it would. But if you asked her, she would never verbalize that thought out loud- it meant too much to Cas.

'Five minutes late. Okay, not terrible. Five minutes. Anyone can be late five minutes.  _I'm_ late five minutes every now and again.  _No. Big. Deal._ ' What was then five minutes soon became fifteen, then thirty, then forty-five, then an hour. 'Dammit!  _Why_? Why did I think he would show up? Why did I think I had a chance with him?!' Cas was crushed. He had had a crush on Balthazar for months, and they had been talking for at least two months. Jo came back with another beer and two tequila shots, Hornitos he assumed, salt and lime on a tray and set it down in front of him. "Wanna toast to us?" She nudged him, trying to get him to at least look at her. He looked so forlorn, this poor guy. He'd been here a year after moving away from a town not much bigger than here to escape his abusive ex. The first guy he starts to let in and he does this to him. Cas was way too nice of a guy to deserve this kind of deal of schmucks. She hoped it would only be these two he had to experience. He got invested, what she was thought, so easily that if he kept meeting guys like these two sorry-excuse-for-guys she was afraid of the effect it would eventually have on him. "Come ooooonnnnn. He sucked anyways. He hadn't even heard of Doctor Who! Do you  _really_ wanna be dating a guy who hasn't even heard of Doctor Who?" He smiled. "There we go! A smile! Okay, bud, I got a fresh Midas with your name on it and two shots here. Let's take the shots and I'll leave you be with your one true love, Midas. When has he ever let you down?" "Alright, alright Jo. You got me." He smiled and she returned the smile right back. "Okay, ready, one, two, go!" They both licked the salt, threw it back and sucked the lime. "Ah! So good, but damn!" They both laughed, and she gave him a light pat on the back. "You'll be okay, and if neither of us marry someone we can be forever roommates and own a herd of guinea pigs. How does that sound?" "You got yourself a deal!" He smiled, she always knew how to cheer him up when he was down. Thank heaven for Jo, she was a true God send. She left him be with his beer and bowl of pretzels.

The guy playing wasn't half bad. Cas thought he was pretty cute, so being stood up wasn't the worse thing, he could look at the singer unabashedly and fantasize all he wanted about a new guy, a guy who hadn't asked him out multiple times then bailed an hour before. He was playing a lot of classic rock, and what sounded to be some originals since he couldn't name some of them. Cas decided he was a really good singer and would definitely see him again, hopefully though, he would add some Bright Eyes or Airborne Toxic Event to his set. Classic rock is great, but after a while, one can only take so much. But the crowd loved it, so clearly the audience were classic rock fans. Nonetheless, adding some modern music to the set wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. If he ever got the courage, Cas would go up and comment.

Right as Cas was finishing his beer, the singer was walking out. Cas rushed to the bar to pay so he could catch him, but by the time he finished paying and he walked outside the guy was gone. 'Oh well,' he thought. Maybe it was fate. And he walked to his car and headed home. 

\-----------

Dean was stuck working the register early on Saturday morning, 7 am was not his hour of choice, but if it meant money then he'd grin and bear it. Thankfully his work provided coffee, of which he was already on his third cup. He'd been up since 5:30 because Lia had started barking to be let out, and once he was up, he was up. He still had five more hours left of his shift, then he could go to the grocery store and restock his fridge. It had been a good thing he got the money he did last night, or else he may have had to ask Sam if he could eat at his place over the weekend. He always made sure he had more food for Lia than he did for him because he'd rather him go hungry a night or two than her. Animals never deserved that sort of misfortune if he could help it.

By the end of his shift he had a seen a total of seven cars, which, sad to say, was a good day for them. Back in the day they used to get, in his length of a shift, about twenty cars. But with the new competition in town, business was suffering. People preferred a franchise over a homegrown shop, why, he would never know. Him and Garth had worked their asses off to keep this place going. His dad had opened the shop back in the late 70s and it had done really well, up until a couple of years ago when the franchised mechanic shop had opened up. After that, people, for some reason unbeknownst to him, trusted this new place more than they trusted him and his shop with their cars. It bugged him plenty, but no amount of griping would bring the customers. He was just thankful there were still loyal customers in the town, and that it was big enough to keep them open. For how much longer, he didn't know. But he hoped and prayed to gods he didn't really believe in that business would pick up some way, somehow. Garth had been working on getting a Facebook page set up for them, but getting the design just right and wording the description was stressful. Garth felt like if he didn't get it just right it would be the make or break for the business. Dean could see where he was coming from, but he felt like the sooner they were up the better; but he didn't wanna pressure him anymore than necessary, Garth was just as stressed as he was and Dean didn't ask Garth to do this, so Garth was pretty nervous to screw up his own idea that he thought would make or break business. 'Poor guy. I gotta get him a case or something to ease his nerves.'

While he strolls up and down the aisles at the local store he gets a whiff of something delicious from the bakery and wanders over. As he starts looking at the selection he notices there's a wide selection of pies and gets stuck between apple and cherry. "Good afternoon, sir! How may I help you to-" Dean straightens up and Cas stops mid-sentence. "Hey, you're the singer from last night at Black Wings. You were really good. I really liked your song selection and your voice was really nice to listen to." Dean, surprised, blushes at the compliment, "Oh why thank you."

"Yeah, no problem. I would just suggest one thing," Cas half smiles as he looks down.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"You add some modern music to you set. Not that classic rock is bad, I grew up on it and punk, but adding some modern music wouldn't be the worst thing." 

"Oh?," Dean chuckles, "and what sort of modern music would you recommend?" At this point Dean is smiling too, which puts Cas more at ease.

"Mmm, I would suggest some Bright Eyes, Airborne Toxic Event, Ben Howard, aannndddd," Cas contemplatively looks at the ceiling, "mmmmmm, Taking Back Sunday. They're all a bit of a stretch from each other, but it's good to be well rounded. Bring in a larger crowd since you got a little of everything. Or, you can write more songs and play those. Your songs were really good too. My personal favorite was the one with the line 'the apple pie life is all good and fine, but me and my blood prefer to live by the edge of a knife.'"

"Oh, thanks. I wrote that about my hunting days with my dad and brother." Dean rubs the back of his neck as he looks at the floor, no one had ever remembered his songs aside from Jo and Sammy, but they were always the first to hear his songs and he'd sing them over and over until they approved of the lines- some were too explicit or didn't sound right the first time around. So, they were his guinea pigs...aside from Lia. "Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be sure to look into them. Gabe said he'd call me again to play since last night went so well."

"Ooohhh, that'll be awesome! I can't wait! You should tell me when you play again so I can go see you."

"I will be sure to do that, then you can tell me if I need to work on anything," and with that Dean winks at him causing Cas to blush and look away.

"Anyways, so, you were looking at the pies. Any I can help you decide on or something? I make everything you see here fresh."

"Um, yeah, apple or cherry?" 

"Apple, hands down, apple. It's my specialty and it's gotten rave reviews."

"Hmmm, is that so? Well, I'll guess I'll take an apple pie to go then."

"Awesome!" Cas reaches under the display and gets a box to package the apple pie in. "That'll be $3.14!"  
"Whoa, really?!"

"Haha, no. It was a joke." Cas looks down a little embarassed, "It's a math joke. Pi is 3.14 and then continues on with more numbers I don't know."

"Oh, well you need to know you audience, bud. I don't know math, like at all. Good joke, just wrong audience. If I had known that, I would have laughed."

"Oh, phew. Haha, I've been trying it out lately and it's been mixed reactions, most people just don't care...anyways, the price is $15."

"Well, that's unfortunate for them. That was a good joke, and here you go," Dean hands him a ten and a five. "Thank you the suggestion. And let me get your my number," as he pats his pockets he realizes he doesn't have a card or pen on him, "do you happen to have a pen and paper?"

"Uh, do you have a phone?"

"Oh, doi, that's an idea. Here you go," Dean hands him his phone.

Cas takes it and enter his phone number, heart beating so furiously inside his chest he thought it would explode.  
"Alrighty, here you go. Cas Novak." Cas smiles and hands Dean back his phone.

"I should probably introduce myself before I go," Dean extends his hand, "Dean. Dean Winchester."  
"Hey, you're John's kid right? Winchester Mechanics?"

"Yeah, I own it with my buddy Garth." 

"I like you guys, you guys were always really good. I still take my car there when I need an oil change or have a problem, but I've never seen you. Only Garth."

"Well, thanks for being a loyal customer," Dean smiles. At least this cute guy was someone who made good choices in life. "Well I gotta head out, I'll let you know when I play next so you can come see me play."  
"Awesome, I look forward to it!" Cas smiles and waves as Dean leaves. 

'Wow. I can't believe that just happened!,' they both think as they smile to themselves.

\-----------------

*Sunday evening*

\- I'm about to dig in to your pie in 3.14 seconds

\- Good one :) haha, it kinda caught on! Tell me what you think :3

\- OH MY LANTA. WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! THIS IS DELICIOUS. GOD BLESS YOU. GOD BLESS THIS PIE. GOD BLESS EVERYONE.

\- LOL! I'm glad you like it, Dean :) 

\- I will take every apple you ever make from now on. No one else is allowed to by them

\- Well now that's just being selfish and inconsiderate to the other pies. They would like a chance with you.

\- Nope. No can do. Sorry, maybe someday, but not today. Once I find a pie I love, I stay true and loyal. You were not lying Cas, this is your specialty!

\- But you have nothing to compare it to! :P I mean, thanks, but still...yeah haha

\- I don't need another pie to know this is the best pie ever.

...Scratch that. I need another pie. Call me the Pie Juggernaut- once I get going, I can't stop.

\- Well thanks, I'm glad you like it :P

\- So...

\- A needle pulling thread?  
\- La, a note that follows so!

...But for real, so, I got the call and I'm playing this Friday :D

\- Yay! I'll be there! 9, right?

\- Yeah :) but I wanted to ask...after my set, would you grab a drink with me?

\- Definitely! :3

\- It's a date then :)

Cas squealed as he read the text and Dean wore a sheepish grin as he read "Definitely" on his little phone screen. It was barely Sunday night and Friday couldn't come fast enough.

\----------------

*Wednesday*

8:30 am and Dean was already on this third cup of coffee. It was not his hour choice, but if it meant making money he'd grin and bear it. Since he'd been in he'd only had 1 person come in to get some oil. He was hoping for at least 15 more people, rather it was to buy something from inside or get something done on their car he just wanted 15 people to break even on what it cost for electricity, and pay for him and Meg being here. Meg was new, but she learned fast, really eager to learn. If he didn't have kids she'd be the type to take over the business; she had a good head on her shoulders and she cares about cars. His other employees didn't care too much, but she loved cars, she even had a 68 mustang she had bought and fixed up herself. And it was so sweet, she let him drive it one time and the baby drove like a dream...well, compared to his Baby. It was the nicest car he had driven since his car, which is saying a lot coming from him. Sam had gotten one of those fuel efficient cars last year and let Dean drive, and while it was a nice ride it was nothing compared to Baby. Baby was, well, his baby and she drove smooth and purred with every start of the engine. You can't get that on one of these new cars, it's all about the "silent engine", but Dean wants power! He wants to hear that roar under the hood of his car, it's music to his hears.

When 4 o'clock rolled around he was more than ready to close up shop. Thankfully, 17 people came through that day, only one needed an oil change, but all the others were just buying bulbs for their head or tail lights or oil. He was so grateful he had convinced his dad to sell car supplies or else they would be having next to no business at all. It was these minor sales that were keeping them afloat, and he relied on them more heavily than he wished to admit. 

It was the end of 'Hump day' which he meant he was  _that_ much closer to seeing Cas. It wouldn't even be a full two days because he'd see him Friday night. The thought of Cas kept him going through this long and terrible week. Today had been his only 8-hour shift, the other two days he had only worked 4-hour shifts because him and Garth got paid too much to keep working 8-hours every day. So if neither were working, they would put Meg or Kevin in charge. Kevin was good kid too. He was really smart, so while Meg could handle the cars and any questions customers might have about their cars, Kevin handled money and management like a pro. They were ideal future owners, but they were both assistant managers, so they could only afford to have one work at a time switching off days. Including Dean and Garth, there were only six employees, two owners/general managers, two assistant managers and two regular employees- James and Anna. With the six of them there, Winchester Mechanics ran like well oiled machine. If only it was used more, but he hoped business would pick up. Something had to change and he hoped the Facebook page would be that change.

When Dean got home he took to the Internet and started listening to some of the bands that Cas told him about. He really liked Airborne Toxic Event and Bright Eyes. The First Day of My Life and All I Ever Wanted were great songs, he thought, so he started to learn them. And that's how Dean spent the rest of his night.

\-------------------

The week went by uneventfully for Cas. He finally mastered the recipe for conchas and they got a pretty decent sale rate considering people had never heard of them before. Cas was trying new recipes of baked goods from different cultures, and he was currently in the midst of exploring the sweet side of Mexican food. Next he planned to try churros with various fillings; but he would give conchas their week of trial without competition from others in its category. He was confident it would all do well and he was excited for the rest of this experiment.

~~~

Friday was finally here and Cas got off in an hour, which gave him three hours to get ready for Dean's show tonight. They had talked off and on between Sunday and today, but nothing too consistent.

When his shift ended he rush home and heated up some hot dogs and beans for a quick dinner and watched an episode of Doctor Who. He was in the middle of the Tennant era and it was the episode where you saw the creation of the cybermen. It was one of his favorites just because there was Barty Crouch Sr. and Barty Crouch Jr. in the same episode. Who didn't love a good father/son reunion in a different fandom universe? When the episode finished he still had a little over an hour and a half to shower and get ready, but he wanted to get there around 8:30 to make sure he got a good seat and maybe see Dean before he went on.

He took a quick shower and put on his favorite shirt, dark grey button up with t-recession and pterodons, with some khakis and beige Toms. His guinea pig, Angel, started to bark so Cas fed him and let him run around his ball for ten minutes before he finished getting ready. He spritzed some of his favorite cologne on, did what he could with his hair, trimmed his facial hair and was our the door. 

He got there a little after 8:30 but it looks like he didn't need to reserve a table. From what Cas saw there was already a little card on the table right in front of the mic with his name on it. By the time he got settled in his seat, Dean had come from behind with a beer in hand.

"Jo told me Midas was your favorite beer so here ya go." 

"You're quite the charmer, sir. A reserved table and a free beer? My my, you know how to sweep a man off his feet!" Dean winked at Cas, causing him to blush, as he took a seat. Dean was already set up for his set- he had gotten there at 8 to set up in case Cas got there early, he wanted to sit and talk with him more in person. Thank God he did. "Well, what can I say?" Cas was smiling and man, was it the best thing ever.

"So did you get a chance to listen to the bands I told you?"

"I did! I learned a few songs, but I won't tell you which ones. You just gotta wait to hear and find out," Dean smiled and Cas returned with an ear to ear grin.

~~~

Twenty minutes went by too quickly, and Dean was called to start his set. At least Cas had a hot date afterwards. 

Dean started his set and it was similar to last weeks, but it sounded like there was more originals this time. Or perhaps it was more rock Cas just hadn't heard of, which wouldn't be surprising. Dean had mentioned how into it he was during one of their mini texting conversations over the week.

It was nearing the end of the set and then he heard it.

"So there's this woman, and she was, uh, on an airplane. She's flying to meet her fiance, sailing high above the, the largest ocean on planet earth."

For the last 20 minutes of his set Dean spends it singing various covers of all these songs from the bands he had recommended. 

Cas was right, people loved his classic rock, but they loved the modern music just as much. Dean had gotten a lot of applause and "woo's" at last week's set, but it seemed louder this week. He saw that Dean could tell the difference. When Cas turned to look at Gabe, Gabe was standing with a big smile on his face. 

~~~~~~

Once Dean was done putting up his equipment and counting his tips ($60 this week!), he took a seat next to Cas. Cas had taken the liberty of returning the favor and had ordered Dean's favorite beer, Hoegaarden, so it was there waiting for him when he sat down. "My, my Cas, if I didn't know any better I would think you fancied me! A beer?" 

"What can I say? I learned a thing or two from others," and winked, causing Dean to blush this time.

They spent the night getting to know each other better, talking about Doctor Who, Harry Potter, and even getting into history and finding out their both big history buffs. Before they knew it, Jo and Gabe we're asking then to leave because it was closing time.

Simultaneously, they both broke into song "I know who I want to take me home!" They started laughing and left the bar.

\-----------------

*Three Years Later*

"Dean, can you please make a note to call the agency?" Cas called from the kitchen.


End file.
